TW: Sexual Assault

Nelly is running away from her past. A failed marriage, a lawsuit filed by her ex’s boss and an event that forever changed her life 20 years ago. Nelly was raised to not trust men by a mother who has been scorned by men her whole life. And when Nelly tags along with her middle school friend to an abandoned building she realizes that her mother is right.
Nelly is yet again reinventing herself, she is good at that. But her move to a new town and new teaching job is abruptly upended when she meets the star teacher, Emmett. However, she does not know him as Emmett, she knows him as Marshall, the boy who attacked her all those years ago. “What if she was wrong about it all? What if she was the one lying, only to herself?” Nelly is feeling herself losing control, but how can she prove this is him when she is not believed now nor then? She can’t let him get away this time!

A quick read from beginning to end. The emotional roller coaster O’Rourke takes the reader on is palpable. I started to second guess if Nelly was a reliable narrator and if she was to be believed, which I feel is the essence of the book. There was a slight twist at the end which ties up all the missing pieces and ends on a happy note.

*Thank you to Brian O’Rourke, Netgalley and Inkubator Books for the ARC copy. I am freely leaving my honest review.